Earlier this month, Bret Dowlen, the man who designed the sound system for the Fillmore Auditorium, formerly known as the Mammoth Events Center, warned me not to make any judgments about the acoustics of the building for several weeks. After all, he said, every room needs to be tweaked. But…
When Elvis Costello was approached by fans during the mid-Eighties, he would squelch their questions with a two-word conversation stopper: “I’m retired.” He used this reply, he says, “because it was just easier than trying to explain what I was actually doing.” Chuckling, he adds, “What a bastard I was.”…
Jeff Holland, Nathan Jantz and Dave Alexander are computer experts with enough collective know-how to bring the Pentagon’s systems administrator to his knees. But even though the three are more interested in making electronic music than in committing cyber-terrorism, there’s still a subversive element to their work. The pieces they…
Whoever said that the classics never go out of fashion probably wasn’t referring to popular music. In a field where styles date faster than President Clinton on a weekend fundraiser, it’s hardly startling that for most artists, fame is as fleeting as the glow of a nearly spent spliff. What…
“People are forgetting about the rock,” says Kenny Hellacopter, bassist for Stockholm’s self-proclaimed action rockers the Hellacopters. “Especially in the States, where it’s rooted and where it sprung from. Which is a shame, because it is such an important heritage. Americans should respect that and not mess around with it.”…
Local artists captured for posterity. Hot on the heels of Between the Lines: The Complete Studio Recordings, a gorgeous reissue of late-Eighties/early-Nineties sessions issued in 1998, Fred Hess and the Boulder Creative Music Ensemble are back with Ninth Street Park, a new collection that finds the act’s members with their…
Chuck Morris is frantic–as usual. The veteran promoter and manager perpetually travels in fourth gear, his movements abrupt, his eyes intense, his words coming in short, speedy bursts that recall his New York origins even though he’s spent most of his adult life in John Denver country. But on this…
Blur 13 (Virgin) Fans who were enthusiastically awaiting the release of this disc because they loved the ultra-catchy “Song 2” from Blur’s eponymous 1997 album may be sorely disappointed: At first listen, the quartet seems to have turned into an art-noise band. (That’s not the speakers buzzing; it’s Graham Coxon’s…
Last week, Garth Brooks was named Entertainer of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music. But that doesn’t mean C&W-loving punk-rocker Mike Ness is suddenly filled with newfound admiration for him. “I can give you a perfect description of how I feel about Garth Brooks,” he says, his voice…
Nancy Wilson Live at McCabes Guitar Shop (Epic) Which one was the dog and which one was the butterfly? And how come there wasn’t a pony? Nancy Wilson (dog, I’m guessing) flies solo on this go-round, a live, unplugged, “nakedly human” collection of Seventies classics, four (and twenty blackbird) cover…
No need to pull the four Denverites in the Velveteen Monster from the stage with a crooked cane: They’re happy to saunter to the side and haunt from the wings. In fact, after several years in the seminal tumbleweed act Jux County, veteran players Andy Monley, Ron Smith and Chris…
If Ike Turner’s life were evaluated strictly on his musical contributions, he might be considered a pop-cultural saint. As an A&R man for a number of Memphis talent scouts and record labels, he was something of a modern-day Noah, rescuing B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Parker and plenty of other…
Internet radio isn’t a panacea: At this point in its technical development, the sound quality can be mighty iffy. But the airwave-based commercial radio of today is generally so dreadful–too narrow, too formatted, too repetitive, too brain-dead–that this new medium is exploding anyhow. For instance, Boulder-based GoGaGa Brand Radio (accessible…
On the surface, the timing for the Hard Knock Life tour, a hardcore rap showcase that hit the Denver Coliseum on April 27, could hardly have been worse. A number of concerts had been canceled as a result of the April 20 killings at Columbine High, including an April 24…
The scene is a self-serve copy shop on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago, the time is several years ago, and the protagonist is Wesley Willis, beloved local icon. Willis is built like Sasquatch (he’s 6-4 and weighs over 300 pounds), but his spirit is friendly and gentle–which is why his sudden…
For the men and women of the Ladybug Transistor, discussion of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds is strictly taboo. “These days, we refer to it as ‘the P word,'” jokes guitarist Jeff Baron. “It seems to follow us wherever we go.” Vocalist/trumpeter Gary Olson concurs. “It’s kind of funny. For…
Pianist/accordionist John Magnie and drummer/percussionist Steve Amedee, the key members of a new quartet called Magpie, were once half of the Subdudes, a group that earned a lofty place in Colorado music history and an impressive national reputation prior to its 1996 breakup. But on this April afternoon, the two,…
Joey McIntyre Stay the Same (C2 Records) If you needed any more proof that musical cycles are swirling faster than ever before, look no further than Joey (formerly Joe) McIntyre. This scrumpdillyicious hunkaroo was part of New Kids on the Block, which captivated the nearly pubescent crowd between 1988 and…
Local songs from the end of the century. Jonny Mogambo’s Colorado Golden, on Hapi Skratch Records, is slick but mostly enjoyable blues rock. Mogambo is a skilled guitarist whose occasional hippie-isms don’t put the brakes on the propulsive ditties “Victoria,” “Sorry State of Affairs” and “Melanoma Superstar,” and if the…
Duane Johnson Jr. occupies two worlds that most people see as mutually exclusive. By night, he is Defari Heru, a rising hip-hop star whose impressive debut album, Focused Daily, was recently issued by Tommy Boy Records. But during the day, he is simply Mr. Johnson, a 27-year old geography and…
How could anyone be surprised that Howard Stern made tactless remarks about the Columbine High School shootings during his April 21 broadcast? After all, his appeal, in large part, is based on his willingness to make tactless remarks about anything and everything, so he was simply running true to form…
If the mythology surrounding it is to be believed, the 1954 discovery of Elvis Presley turned as much on race as on talent. The story goes something like this: Sam Phillips, whose Sun Studios concentrated on songs aimed at the average rhythm-and-blues consumer, wanted to break into the musical mainstream–and…
